Friday, May 15, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Omnivore's Dilemma
"Whatever native wisdom we may once have possessed about eating has been replaced by confusion and anxiety. Somehow this most elemental of activities- figuring out what to eat- has come to require a remarkable amount of expert help" (Michael Pollan, 1)
I believe that this statement is correct and would apply to many people in this people in country, including myself. People are constantly reading and researching about the types of foods they should and should not eat. Most people eat according to what the experts say, and what they say is beneficial for us, which may not always be true. The words of the experts completely dominate the foods found in our refrigerators. I would also add that, in some cases, the objective of researching is not to shape the our diets, rather it acts as a green light for people to eat the things that we know is bad. If the experts say that eating certain foods would be beneficial (or at least, not as bad), then people will go ahead and eat it. Our diets are completely dependent on what strangers tell us.
On the bigger picture, the foods that I eat are influenced by experts. Most of the time I eat whatever I choose to eat, but I know that subconsciously that choice is affected by things I have heard in the past. I never purposely read about or look up what experts have to say about eating different types of food, but they still have an impact of what I eat. The decisions I make about the foods I eat, are affected by the nutrition and ingredients of food, both of which have been established by experts. Every time I eat, I am concerned about how this will affect me after the meal, whether it be beneficiary or something I would have to work off.
I personally do not follow any food experts, but my mom does. She reads Chinese magazines that come with the weekend newspaper. And within those magazines, there are various writers talking about different foods having hidden benefits. They provide many tips about eating certain foods to have a certain effect (e.g. skin care, digestion, etc.), and of course my mom listens to it. Every other week, she is trying something that the magazines said. She is currently following the cucumber-fad. Other than that, my family doesn't really anything else, in terms of food experts.
I believe that this statement is correct and would apply to many people in this people in country, including myself. People are constantly reading and researching about the types of foods they should and should not eat. Most people eat according to what the experts say, and what they say is beneficial for us, which may not always be true. The words of the experts completely dominate the foods found in our refrigerators. I would also add that, in some cases, the objective of researching is not to shape the our diets, rather it acts as a green light for people to eat the things that we know is bad. If the experts say that eating certain foods would be beneficial (or at least, not as bad), then people will go ahead and eat it. Our diets are completely dependent on what strangers tell us.
On the bigger picture, the foods that I eat are influenced by experts. Most of the time I eat whatever I choose to eat, but I know that subconsciously that choice is affected by things I have heard in the past. I never purposely read about or look up what experts have to say about eating different types of food, but they still have an impact of what I eat. The decisions I make about the foods I eat, are affected by the nutrition and ingredients of food, both of which have been established by experts. Every time I eat, I am concerned about how this will affect me after the meal, whether it be beneficiary or something I would have to work off.
I personally do not follow any food experts, but my mom does. She reads Chinese magazines that come with the weekend newspaper. And within those magazines, there are various writers talking about different foods having hidden benefits. They provide many tips about eating certain foods to have a certain effect (e.g. skin care, digestion, etc.), and of course my mom listens to it. Every other week, she is trying something that the magazines said. She is currently following the cucumber-fad. Other than that, my family doesn't really anything else, in terms of food experts.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
AWOF- Andy's(family) Way of (eating) Food
In terms of vegetables, roots and grains, my family consumes massive amounts of it. Every meal that I have with my family would have these two things incorporated in it. The vegetables would often be bok choy, celery, carrots, Chinese cabbage, and a lot more stuff that I just eat and not know the name of. The roots are mainly just ginger and potatoes. And the grains would just be rice, or noodle...or rice noodle. My mom have always liked cooking different things everyday, and hardly ever cooks the same thing two days in a row. But I think it's mostly because of the flavor rather than the nutrition factor. Regardless, I've always had a well-balanced diet, as far as my dinner is concerned. However, dinner is only one of the two meals that I have per day. Lunch, for me, would seem less balance since I eat school lunch. There seems to be a lack of vegetables and fruits. And as of roots and grains, it's in the form of heated-up, pre-frozen burger and "fries." Even though the food does not taste as good, or is also nutritious for me, I do not mind it too much. It fills me up when I am hungry, and I can go upstairs, where I can play Chinese poker everyday. (However, if the people upstairs weren't playing Chinese poker, I think diet for lunch would be something completely different).
For my family, our meals and food do not seem as dramatically affected as the typical American. I think that is because, we mainly buy our food from Mott Street, Chinatown, where it is not the typical supermarket. There isn't one big market (well, there are two but we choose not to shop there) where you can get everything you want. Instead, we go to many different stores and look for the things that my mom plans on cooking for us throughout the week. During the car ride there, I would hear her and my dad discussing about things that need to be bought, so I don't think the markets "push" everything into our refrigerator, but it does have some effect. By that I mean, if there is food that we eat on occasions, and that is cheap, my mom would buy it; thus creating the occasions. Even so, I think that my family eats in a style that seems a bit more flexible. We do eat rice every night, but there has never been a set of food that we eat. In my family, my mom just cooks what she has or what she wants, and we just eat it. And it just so happens that it has a lot of variety, compared to other people in the class.
For my family, our meals and food do not seem as dramatically affected as the typical American. I think that is because, we mainly buy our food from Mott Street, Chinatown, where it is not the typical supermarket. There isn't one big market (well, there are two but we choose not to shop there) where you can get everything you want. Instead, we go to many different stores and look for the things that my mom plans on cooking for us throughout the week. During the car ride there, I would hear her and my dad discussing about things that need to be bought, so I don't think the markets "push" everything into our refrigerator, but it does have some effect. By that I mean, if there is food that we eat on occasions, and that is cheap, my mom would buy it; thus creating the occasions. Even so, I think that my family eats in a style that seems a bit more flexible. We do eat rice every night, but there has never been a set of food that we eat. In my family, my mom just cooks what she has or what she wants, and we just eat it. And it just so happens that it has a lot of variety, compared to other people in the class.
Monday, May 4, 2009
May Day
I will admit that, I have never understood nor attempted to understand May Day or why it is a holiday until Friday's class. I also believe that no one in my family knows what that is as well, which kind of shows that this holiday isn't acknowledged enough to be spread around. Then again, you can just blame it on my ignorance. However, the fact that very few people know or care about this holiday is very surprising to me, especially when majority of America is working class. This is one of the few(if not, the only) holidays that actually works towards one goal, and better working conditions. But regardless, people still choose to only celebrate the holidays that their beliefs and imagination lead them to celebrate.
The compromise created as a result of the May day protests connects to the whole health care system in America. I previously stated in my health care paper that, people will settle down for less out of fear for losing everything. So in this case, the workers settle down for a few days off , and forgot about the better working conditions throughout the whole year. It almost seems like the bosses and the "upper-class" are baiting the workers with something that is of much smaller proportions.
If I knew more, I would make this statement: Settling down never works out. In the end, the benefits still go towards the people who are already sitting there, collecting money. But people need to realize that they would not be sitting there if the workers were not busting their asses working. They need to realize that the boss needs the workers more than the workers need the boss.
The compromise created as a result of the May day protests connects to the whole health care system in America. I previously stated in my health care paper that, people will settle down for less out of fear for losing everything. So in this case, the workers settle down for a few days off , and forgot about the better working conditions throughout the whole year. It almost seems like the bosses and the "upper-class" are baiting the workers with something that is of much smaller proportions.
If I knew more, I would make this statement: Settling down never works out. In the end, the benefits still go towards the people who are already sitting there, collecting money. But people need to realize that they would not be sitting there if the workers were not busting their asses working. They need to realize that the boss needs the workers more than the workers need the boss.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Food Journal
Tuesday Dinner (~9:30)Two Bowls of Rice, Pork with Cauliflower, Soup
During this night, I came home later than usual and found that my parents had already eaten dinner without me. However they did leave me with a lot of food, which I did not get to finish and sealed up to put into the refrigerator. Just like every other night, I had soup first and for that night it potato/carrot/pork bone soup. After I was done with that, I went to get a bowl of rice and ate that with the pork with cauliflower, using chopsticks like always. After I was done with that first bowl, I went to get a second bowl, because that night I was especially hungry. As I got the second bowl, I felt a slight sense of boredom so I went to play with my cat, which lasted about 2 minutes before I continued my second bowl of rice. Once again, I ate solely from the dish of pork with cauliflower, and completely neglected the fish that was also there, because I felt that it would have been too troublesome to spit out all the bones. Throughout the whole time, I felt kind of rushed because I wanted to get ready to go to bed since I came home so late. I also did not have the normal discussions that I had with my parents. I think it was partially due to the fact that they were already warped into their Chinese drama. As I was getting ready to sleep, I was thinking about the food staying in my system. I've heard previously that if you sleep within 2 hours after eating, you will not be able to digest the food more effectively which got me conscious for a while until I just said "Oh well."
Wednesday Breakfast (Never)Nothing
I usually do not eat breakfast because I think I've conditioned myself long enough that my body feels as though I do not eat it, because obviously I'm not hungry in the morning. So if I did eat breakfast, I feel like I am force-feeding myself and get full within the first two bites. And even though I do not normally eat breakfast, my mother insisted that I ate some bread, which I just ignored. But before I left school, I did take a bottle of Poland Spring water with me to school, so that I had something to drink whenever my mouth was dry or I was bored.
Wednesday Lunch (12:30~1:20)School Lunch: Meatballs, Milk, Fries
Like always, I get extremely hungry around 10 or 11 o'clock. And like always I look forward to lunch. But as I was eating lunch, I wasn't really paying attention to the food. I was just poking at my food with a plastic fork, hoping to get something on it, as I was working on my exhibition. But that soon ended, when Daniel, Dinorah and Quinn decided to take out the cards and play Chinese Poker. At that point, I was eating in between rounds. After lunch ended, I had no thought about lunch, rather I was wishing that we would have played one or two more rounds of Chinese Poker.
Wednesday Snack (~5:00pm)Ice Cream Bar
During this time, I was working on my exhibition and became extremely bored of typing. So I walked around my apartment, and once I passed by the refrigerator I opened it and took a look (this is a habit that I've developed before I even started going to school; the different colors found inside the refrigerator seems to brighten me up even when I'm not getting anything to eat). I found a few ice cream bars that my mom had bought, and took one to eat. I wasn't particularly hungry, just bored. So I took the ice cream bar into my room and ate it. As I was eating it, I was thinking about all the damage that the sugar and the coldness of the ice cream was doing to my teeth. I, then, looked at the label, and I saw that it had 1 gram of fiber, and thought "sweet, I'm getting my fibers." After I was done with it, I put the wrapper in a cup and felt very disappointed that it was already finished. I was thinking about getting another one, but then I thought, "it's going make me fat."
Wednesday Dinner (~Never)Nothing
This was one of the extremely rare occasions where I missed dinner. On this night, I feel asleep at around 8 o'clock. My mom made several attempts to wake me up, but I decided that I was more tired than hungry, so I continued to sleep for the next 11 hours. In the morning, I wasn't hungry and did not crave any food. But I did feel extremely tired, even after 11 hours of sleeping. And now that I think about it, it's been two nights in a row, where I did not have those endless discussions with my parents, which I miss. But surprisingly, I do not miss the feeling of properly sitting down and enjoying the food (if it was there to begin with).
During this night, I came home later than usual and found that my parents had already eaten dinner without me. However they did leave me with a lot of food, which I did not get to finish and sealed up to put into the refrigerator. Just like every other night, I had soup first and for that night it potato/carrot/pork bone soup. After I was done with that, I went to get a bowl of rice and ate that with the pork with cauliflower, using chopsticks like always. After I was done with that first bowl, I went to get a second bowl, because that night I was especially hungry. As I got the second bowl, I felt a slight sense of boredom so I went to play with my cat, which lasted about 2 minutes before I continued my second bowl of rice. Once again, I ate solely from the dish of pork with cauliflower, and completely neglected the fish that was also there, because I felt that it would have been too troublesome to spit out all the bones. Throughout the whole time, I felt kind of rushed because I wanted to get ready to go to bed since I came home so late. I also did not have the normal discussions that I had with my parents. I think it was partially due to the fact that they were already warped into their Chinese drama. As I was getting ready to sleep, I was thinking about the food staying in my system. I've heard previously that if you sleep within 2 hours after eating, you will not be able to digest the food more effectively which got me conscious for a while until I just said "Oh well."
Wednesday Breakfast (Never)Nothing
I usually do not eat breakfast because I think I've conditioned myself long enough that my body feels as though I do not eat it, because obviously I'm not hungry in the morning. So if I did eat breakfast, I feel like I am force-feeding myself and get full within the first two bites. And even though I do not normally eat breakfast, my mother insisted that I ate some bread, which I just ignored. But before I left school, I did take a bottle of Poland Spring water with me to school, so that I had something to drink whenever my mouth was dry or I was bored.
Wednesday Lunch (12:30~1:20)School Lunch: Meatballs, Milk, Fries
Like always, I get extremely hungry around 10 or 11 o'clock. And like always I look forward to lunch. But as I was eating lunch, I wasn't really paying attention to the food. I was just poking at my food with a plastic fork, hoping to get something on it, as I was working on my exhibition. But that soon ended, when Daniel, Dinorah and Quinn decided to take out the cards and play Chinese Poker. At that point, I was eating in between rounds. After lunch ended, I had no thought about lunch, rather I was wishing that we would have played one or two more rounds of Chinese Poker.
Wednesday Snack (~5:00pm)Ice Cream Bar
During this time, I was working on my exhibition and became extremely bored of typing. So I walked around my apartment, and once I passed by the refrigerator I opened it and took a look (this is a habit that I've developed before I even started going to school; the different colors found inside the refrigerator seems to brighten me up even when I'm not getting anything to eat). I found a few ice cream bars that my mom had bought, and took one to eat. I wasn't particularly hungry, just bored. So I took the ice cream bar into my room and ate it. As I was eating it, I was thinking about all the damage that the sugar and the coldness of the ice cream was doing to my teeth. I, then, looked at the label, and I saw that it had 1 gram of fiber, and thought "sweet, I'm getting my fibers." After I was done with it, I put the wrapper in a cup and felt very disappointed that it was already finished. I was thinking about getting another one, but then I thought, "it's going make me fat."
Wednesday Dinner (~Never)Nothing
This was one of the extremely rare occasions where I missed dinner. On this night, I feel asleep at around 8 o'clock. My mom made several attempts to wake me up, but I decided that I was more tired than hungry, so I continued to sleep for the next 11 hours. In the morning, I wasn't hungry and did not crave any food. But I did feel extremely tired, even after 11 hours of sleeping. And now that I think about it, it's been two nights in a row, where I did not have those endless discussions with my parents, which I miss. But surprisingly, I do not miss the feeling of properly sitting down and enjoying the food (if it was there to begin with).
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Foodways
My family does food in a very traditional Chinese way where: the female (my mother) prepares the food, everyone uses chopsticks, every meal involves either rice or noodles, and soy sauce or oyster sauce is present in every other dish. The stereotypical portrayal of Asian meal rituals is the portrayal of the rituals in my family as well (besides the dog part; that stuff is illegal). However, one thing that might differ between my families from of the other families is we exchange thoughts during dinner time. We have discussions as we are eating, that eventually turn into minor arguments due to the huge contrast in beliefs between me and my mother.
My perspective on food and my parent’s perspective of food are completely different. I see food as a source of rejuvenation, and maybe even as a requirement. Therefore I tend to eat relatively quick, compared to my parents. I eat to only satisfy that requirement, and see that if I spend too much time on eating, I’ll be wasting the time I can be using to do something else (by that, I mostly mean video games). My parents, on the contrary, value food and its taste. Therefore they take a little more time, sucking each bone dry, and chewing every piece of food until it’s a liquid. And while I feel like I could be doing something else with my time instead of slowly eating, their “something else” is eating.
In some ways, I can see that I have adopted the typical American food way, which seems to be very involved with haste and convenience. I, along with many other Americans, like to incorporate eating with another action, such as heading to work/school, doing homework, listening to the background sound of the television, or playing video games. Food can be described as “just there,” based on my approach to food and the approaches I’ve observed from the busy New Yorkers and their bagels on-to-go. Food never seems to be the focus of a typical American, from what I have seen in my experiences. People (including myself) are always just eating because it’s a basic survival need, and never really taken the time to fully focus on food. Even when people go out to a restaurant for dinner, their focus is still not on the food; rather it is on his/her date, the occasion or the convenience.
My perspective on food and my parent’s perspective of food are completely different. I see food as a source of rejuvenation, and maybe even as a requirement. Therefore I tend to eat relatively quick, compared to my parents. I eat to only satisfy that requirement, and see that if I spend too much time on eating, I’ll be wasting the time I can be using to do something else (by that, I mostly mean video games). My parents, on the contrary, value food and its taste. Therefore they take a little more time, sucking each bone dry, and chewing every piece of food until it’s a liquid. And while I feel like I could be doing something else with my time instead of slowly eating, their “something else” is eating.
In some ways, I can see that I have adopted the typical American food way, which seems to be very involved with haste and convenience. I, along with many other Americans, like to incorporate eating with another action, such as heading to work/school, doing homework, listening to the background sound of the television, or playing video games. Food can be described as “just there,” based on my approach to food and the approaches I’ve observed from the busy New Yorkers and their bagels on-to-go. Food never seems to be the focus of a typical American, from what I have seen in my experiences. People (including myself) are always just eating because it’s a basic survival need, and never really taken the time to fully focus on food. Even when people go out to a restaurant for dinner, their focus is still not on the food; rather it is on his/her date, the occasion or the convenience.
What is the Typical Diet of an American? How Much of Each is Consumed?
The following numbers are in terms of how much each person consume annually:
Meat, Poultry and Fish: 195 pounds
Soft Drinks (carbonated, "fruit drinks," juice, bottled water, etc.): 53 gallons
Eggs: 243 egg (yolks)
Flour, Grains, Beans: 200 pounds
Added Fats and Oil: 66 pounds
Dairy Products: 28 pounds
Ice Cream: 16 pounds
As we're eating, we do not consider that we eat a lot if we do not feel extremely full. But looking at it from a larger view, it's very shocking that this is how much consume. And a lot of this stuff is not exactly healthy. 53 gallons of soft drinks, 66 pounds of oil and 16 pounds of ice cream can be very fattening. But I guess it fits the American way of life: Do it now (eat), worry about it later.
Meat, Poultry and Fish: 195 pounds
Soft Drinks (carbonated, "fruit drinks," juice, bottled water, etc.): 53 gallons
Eggs: 243 egg (yolks)
Flour, Grains, Beans: 200 pounds
Added Fats and Oil: 66 pounds
Dairy Products: 28 pounds
Ice Cream: 16 pounds
As we're eating, we do not consider that we eat a lot if we do not feel extremely full. But looking at it from a larger view, it's very shocking that this is how much consume. And a lot of this stuff is not exactly healthy. 53 gallons of soft drinks, 66 pounds of oil and 16 pounds of ice cream can be very fattening. But I guess it fits the American way of life: Do it now (eat), worry about it later.
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